In late September 2019, Beijing’s new Daxing International Airport opened, which will be Beijing’s new mega-airport (not that Beijing Capital Airport wasn’t already huge). The terminal at the airport is the second largest airport terminal in the world (after New Istanbul Airport), with over 11 million square feet.
Airlines Are Slowly Moving To Daxing Airport
As you’d expect, not all airlines are moving to Beijing Daxing Airport overnight, since that would be a bit of a mess. For that matter, not all airlines are moving to Beijing Daxing Airport at all, as Beijing Capital Airport is still a modern facility, so the city hopes to have two huge airports.
In general you can expect that:
- Oneworld and SkyTeam airlines will be moving to Beijing Daxing Airport
- Star Alliance airlines as well as Hainan Airlines will stay at Beijing Capital Airport
There will be exceptions, though. For example, LOT Polish is part of the Star Alliance, but they’ll fly to Beijing Daxing Airport starting in January 2020. Similarly, Air China will operate some flights out of the new Beijing Daxing Airport.
As far as US airlines go, we can expect that both American and Delta will be moving to Beijing Daxing Airport, while United will remain at Beijing Capital Airport.
Delta’s Move To Beijing Daxing Airport
Delta has updated their schedule to reflect their move to Beijing Daxing Airport.
As of March 28, 2020, Delta will adjust their operations from Beijing Capital Airport (PEK) to Beijing Daxing Airport (PKX). The airline operates two daily flights to Beijing, out of Detroit and Seattle.
The Detroit flight is operated daily using an A350-900, with the following schedule:
DL189 Detroit to Beijing departing 12:50PM arriving 2:00PM (+1 day)
DL188 Beijing to Detroit departing 5:15PM arriving 6:50PM
The Seattle flight is operated daily using a 767-300, with the following schedule:
DL129 Seattle to Beijing departing 3:29PM arriving 6:15PM (+1 day)
DL128 Beijing to Seattle departing 11:45AM arriving 8:20AM
It’s not yet known when American will make the move to Daxing Airport, though I imagine it won’t be too much later.
Bottom Line
I’m hoping to check out Beijing Daxing Airport soon, though as of now it hasn’t really worked with my travel plans. Furthermore, I’ve been waiting for more lounges to open, and also for the airport to get more traffic, to get a better sense of how crowded it will be.
The new airport looks great, so I’m curious to see what the experience is like as a passenger. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Beijing Capital Airport, even though that’s pretty as well.
Has anyone flown to the new Daxing Airport? If so, what was your experience like?
Whilst I haven't been to PKX myself, I'd hope that the design of PKX allows for smooth INT-INT transits as do occur at PEK T3, where as long as you are both arriving and departing from T3, the connection is pretty simple.
The major problem at PEK is if you have to transfer between T3 and T1 or T2. It's a 6.5 km walk between the two (according to Baidu maps) and no sterile transit...
Whilst I haven't been to PKX myself, I'd hope that the design of PKX allows for smooth INT-INT transits as do occur at PEK T3, where as long as you are both arriving and departing from T3, the connection is pretty simple.
The major problem at PEK is if you have to transfer between T3 and T1 or T2. It's a 6.5 km walk between the two (according to Baidu maps) and no sterile transit is possible. I wonder if the government/BCIA are looking at renovating T1 and T2 or even relocating them since most of the airlines that use them are moving to PKX, but there doesn't seem to be much happening at the moment.
You have to keep in mind the disadvantages too - the new airport is very far from city center and is huge. Also, Delta is not moving their operation persay, but more precisely Skyteam is. Further, I don't think now is a good representation of the airport and status because there are still relatively few flights operating out of there. Wait a couple of years until it is in full motion to review it.
Agree with @Brian on the transit visa mess at PEK. Just to change from CX to AA, I had to get a transit visa, go through immigration etc. At many airports (LHR comes to mind) they would have managed it with an airside transfer. Of course, we or at least I don't yet know what the procedures at PKX will be like.
From above, Daxing looks like a big chocolate starfish
Never flown into Daxing airport, but frankly anything would be an improvement over PEK. I flew into PEK from SIN to connect to a flight from PEK to DTW in Delta One suites, and it was just the worst experience ever. I had to get a transit visa to go outside of the airport just to connect to another terminal, and dealing with Chinese visa officers sucked, especially with the language barrier. Then, after getting...
Never flown into Daxing airport, but frankly anything would be an improvement over PEK. I flew into PEK from SIN to connect to a flight from PEK to DTW in Delta One suites, and it was just the worst experience ever. I had to get a transit visa to go outside of the airport just to connect to another terminal, and dealing with Chinese visa officers sucked, especially with the language barrier. Then, after getting to the second terminal, the business class lounge was literally the worst I’ve experienced because the SkyTeam lounge was undergoing renovations. PEK is easily one of the worst airports I’ve visited.
That design looks way too similar to Stuttgart's new train station
It's been know that Oneworld and SkyTeam will move to this wonderful airport.
Kinda suck that CZ left SkyTeam. PKX is going to be their 2nd fortress. SkyTeam would have dominated PKX.